If there is a reference app in terms of platforms for internal company communication, that is Microsoft Teams, since the app combines private chats, group chats, video calls, calendars, and other functions that make it a perfect tool for any company.
It is clear that there are many other similar apps, with Slack being the most prominent, however, they do not have half the number of users as Microsoft’s. This may seem like a matter of user preferences, but the truth is that as Slack reported to the European Commission in 2020, there is an anticompetitive practice behind it.
That is why in April of this year, Microsoft made a series of changes to its Teams service, as well as Microsoft 365 and Office 365, to avoid this type of problems. Among the changes, they introduced the option to stop including Teams as part of Office in Europe and the rest of the world.
However, these “efforts” seem not to be enough for the EU, and as reported by the Financial Times, European regulators are preparing a new lawsuit against the Teams app for anticompetitive practices once again.
The complaint focuses on the fact that Teams works better on Windows than any other alternative because Microsoft favors its development, and also that due to the prices set by the company, it is very difficult to encourage users to switch services.
Let’s remember that in recent years, the EU has made great efforts to try to open up options as much as possible for users, and that means forcing large tech companies to leave some of the pie for smaller companies.
Apparently, Teams’ rivals are going to meet with the commission this week, to continue the investigation that was opened last summer and could result in the largest fine ever imposed on a tech company, as established by the Digital Markets Act (DMA) the fine could amount to up to 10% of Microsoft’s annual revenue.
While it is true that until now , the EU has never had to apply this 10% fine, due to Microsoft’s repeated offenses Microsoft could be exposed to said fine, making things very difficult for Microsoft and making its operations in our continent very challenging. If Apple was fined 1.8 billion and that was approximately 0.5% of their revenues in 2023, we do not want to imagine how much the amount would be when it’s 10%.
